$27 Million in Technical Assistance and Planning for Rural and Tribal Communities - Department of Transportation
Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program
By the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Build America Bureau (Bureau), the program offers $27 million in technical assistance grants to rural and tribal communities for the planning and design phase development of transportation projects. There is no local funding match required to participate in this program. The Bureau designated up to $10 million for Tribal applicants.
Additional Resources:
Click to access informational webinar on January 14, 2025 (passcode: S6CyH1q%)
Click to access slides from informational webinar on January 14, 2025
2023 Applications Dashboard
Overview
The BIL created the Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program, which makes $10 million available over five years to provide states, local governments, and tribal governments with grants to support project development leading to future applications to DOT credit or grant programs. The grants can support legal, technical, and financial advisors to help advance infrastructure projects.
Types of Grants and Funding
Two types of grants will be awarded: Single Project grants and Multi-Community grants, which will fund projects in, at minimum, three separate communities submitted under a single application.
Single Project grants: $10 million available to award
Min. award amount: $200,000
Max. award amount: $750,000
Multi-Community grants: $17 million available to award
Min. award amount: $500,000
Max. award amount: $2.25 million
Dates
Applications accepted beginning March 18, 2025, at 2 p.m. ET.
The application portal will close on April 17, 2025, at 4:59 p.m. ET
Eligibility
Eligible Applicants:
County governments
Special district governments
State governments
Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)City or township governments
Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Additional Information on Eligibility: Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Additional information on eligible applicants for this Program is included in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Eligible project sponsors may receive grant funds to select advisors to assist with pre-development-phase activities, including:
feasibility studies
project planning
revenue forecasting and funding and financing options analyses
preliminary engineering and design work
environmental review
economic assessments and cost-benefit analyses
public benefits studies
statutory and regulatory framework analyses
value-for-money (VFM) studies
evaluations of costs to sustain the project
evaluation opportunities for private financing and project bundling
Resource Links:
Review copy of Online Application questions for Multi-Community grants
Review copy of Online Application questions for Single Project grants
Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program - Is my project in a Rural Area?
View the January 14, 2025, webinar (passcode: S6CyH1q%) and view the slides with this link.
View the July 20, 2024, webinar with this link (passcode: m!5Ov0B^), and view the slides at this link.
For more information, please email RuralandTribalTA@dot.gov.